2023 Global Health Case Competition

University of Pittsburgh

2023 Global Health Case Competition 

 

I not only met people from other academic fields and created a memorable relationship, but also learned specific knowledge in terms of global health and how  

to apply the understandings from other classes in a more realistic manner. ‘21 student participant 

 

“I was able to think deeply about medical issues globally and with my team, come up with an intervention plan. It helped me get over my fear of public speaking too.”  ‘22 student participant 

 


Over fifty graduate and undergraduate students participated in the University of Pittsburgh’s 2023 Global Health Case Competition.  On November 10, 2023 after a culmination of five weeks of workshops and equipped with a comprehensive lib guide, four multidisciplinary teams were selected to present in front of a panel of judges, their response, to the prompt:  to develop a comprehensive strategy for controlling Schistosomiasis, providing supportive care for those infected, preventing future infection, and addressing water access in the Northwestern region of Senegal. The plan was to demonstrate  local community input and timeline of 5 years with a budget of $3 million USD.   

 

Congratulations to our winning team!
Cindy Le (Biology), Christina Yi (Nutrition Science), Dylan Kurian (Biological Sciences), Lauren Angus (Chemistry), Harper Segal (Engineering), and Namita Mahajan (Biological Sciences and Business).  

 

View the 2023 First Place and Second Place presentations on our YouTube channel.

 

The competition is organized by the Global Studies Center and the Center for Global Health, School of Public Health and supported this year with contributions from the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences, and the Center for African Studies. 

 

 

Pitt’s Global Health Case Competition is an intensive and exciting dive into a real-world Global Health problem.  The competition is designed to give students from the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland, Bradford, Johnstown and Greensburg campuses, Penn State and West Virginia University professional experience in developing innovative 21st century solutions and strategies to address a real-world global health issue.  

 

Interdisciplinary teams of four to six graduate and undergraduate students will develop a plan to address a scenario in a holistic way based on information garnered during a series of presentation/workshop by experts along with a comprehensive library guide prepared specifically for the case study.  All teams will submit a video presentation of their proposal on November 1, 2023,  and based on those videos, four teams will be selected to compete in the final competition on November 10th.  The final competition will be held in person on the Pitt campus. The top team will receive cash prizes and support to register and, if accepted, to attend the Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition. Pitt cannot guarantee a slot in the Emory Case Competition. 

 

  • Students can register individually and they will be assigned to a team  

OR  

  • A group of students can sign up as a team, but the group must meet the composition requirements (students from at least three different disciplines and both graduate and undergraduate representation.)  

  •  

University of Pittsburgh students participating in the competition also have the option to earn one academic credit, either at the undergraduate or graduate level (depending on their status.) The course must be added before the add/drop period, September 8, 2023. Course number:  

  • Undergraduate PUBHLT 1902

  • Graduate: BCHS 2511-1001

  •  

Oakland students are encouraged to attend all the workshop sessions in-person, in Wesley W Posvar Hall (WWPH) Sessions will be available via Zoom for students from all other campuses and others who cannot attend in person.  

 

Pitt’s winning teams have gone on to place 3rd out of over 50 teams at Emory University’s global competition.  View the 2022 first and second place presentations at Pitt’s competition on our Youtube channel.

 

The case competition is sponsored by the School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health, the Global Health Student Association, the Center for Bioethics & Health Law, and Pitt’s Global Studies Center, and the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences.  

 

2023 Global Health Case Competition FAQs 

 

Who can participate? 

The competition is open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from all areas of study from the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University and West Viriginia University. Post-graduate and post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to participate. Teams are composed of four to six students from three or more disciplines. There are three options for registration: 

A student may register individually and will be assigned teammates from other academic disciplines to form a full team. 

OR

Two or three students may register as a partial team and will be assigned teammates from other academic disciplines to form a full team. 

 

Four to six students may register as a full team. Full teams must represent at least different three disciplines or schools and are highly encouraged to include members from a broad array of academic disciplines, and have representation of both graduate and undergraduate students. 

 

How are teams created?  

Those who register individually or in small groups will be assigned additional team members. Teams are assigned to ensure graduate/undergraduate mix and at least three schools/departments are represented. 

Each team must assign a captain. 

 

What is the case? 

The case is a 10 – 20 page document that presents a real world global health challenge, a specific time-frame and a total budget amount. 

Teams analyze the case, attend the associated workshops on Friday afternoons throughout October, conduct research and create and present a proposed solution to the challenge with a supporting budget. Examples of previous year case competitions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@PittGlobalStudies/videos 

 

How much time must a student commit?

Once the case is released, it is at each team's discretion as to how much time it spends working on its presentation. In addition to attendance at mandatory weekly events in October, the week of the competition, successful teams have found that spending an additional 10-20 hours working together on their project yields optimal results. 

 

Do I have to earn credit if participating in the competition? 

University of Pittsburgh students can earn credit for their participation, but it is optional. If you choose to register as a student by the end of add/drop (Sept 8) you’ll enroll in PUBHLT 1902 if an undergraduate and BCHS 2511-1001 for graduate students Dr. Salter (cys6@pitt.edu) and Paul Margraf (pjm111@pitt.edu) for special permission number. Students earning credit are expected to attend all sessions, participate in the team presentation and complete an evaluation form.   

 

How does the competition work? 

On November 1, 2023 by 5 PM each team will submit a file of their 10 minute PowerPoint presentation recorded on Zoom (with each team member participating.)  Each team will receive a private link to a Google drive folder where they will upload the file Along with the Zoom file, teams will upload their PowerPoint slides, a one- page budget and a one-page bibliographyNo other attachments should be submitted A committee of experts will review the videos and the budget and select the top four teams for the final round to present in front of a panel of judges, in person at the University of Pittsburgh Oakland campus on November 10th Teams will be notified on November 6th if they have been selected to move on to the final round as one of the top four presentations 

The four finalists, on November 10th, will give a 15 minute in-person presentation with 10 minutes of Q&A immediately after each presentation. All students participating in the case competition are invited to attend the final four presentation on November 10th and to join the celebratory dinner.  

 

How do students benefit from the competition experience? 

Students will gain valuable experience developing a comprehensive strategy and competing in a world-recognized format to address a global health challenge.  Students gain experience learning how to effectively work as a productive team member, a much sought after competency, learn about project management tools and budgeting, about the specific health issue and cultural and geographic context. Students gain access to faculty and leaders working in fields related to the case study.  

 

Register now!

Competition Schedule

September 28th, 6PM  

Global Hub

Case Reveal


September 29th, 2:30PM – 4PM 

1500 Posvar Hall

Opening Session


October 13th, 2:30PM – 4PM  

157 Benedum Hall


October 20th, 2:30PM – 4PM  

1500 Posvar Hall


October 27th, 2:30PM – 4PM  

1500 Posvar Hall


November 1st, 5PM  

1500 Posvar Hall

Video presentations due


November 6th

Top four teams will be notified and invited to present in the final round


November 10th, 2PM – 4PM  

1500 Posvar Hall

Student presentations, dinner to follow

For questions about this year's competition, email Elaine Linn at eel58@pitt.edu